Numerous methods of stabilizing soil have been developed and put into commercial use, but invariably said methods have not been universally applied to a large number of quite dissimilar end uses, such as construction, land contour control, reforestration, and agricultural soil reclamation, or have enjoyed wide acceptance in only a rather specific field, such as oil well packing. A soil stabilization system applicable to a broad range of fields and which is long lasting, inexpensive, and quick and simple to apply with low skilled labor has not yet been developed for universal application.
Petroleum derivatives are widely used in construction work, such as the formation of sub-bases, bases, and wear courses for roads, airport runways, canal linings, drainage ditches, industrial areas, parking areas, and similar uses, but almost invariably the material cost is so great and/or the level of labor skill and application costs so high that such projects are only feasible when a relatively high cost per square yard of completed structure can be justified. In the road building industry, for example, the use of polyester and polyvinyl plastics has been quite extensive, but usually only as a top dressing or surface coating applied to a wear course of a road which has been built by more conventional methods.
Petroleum derivatives are also widely used in land contour control, but the applied material has, when judged on a cost-effectiveness basis, been only partially satisfactory since low cost materials usually provide only short term protection of a few months or perhaps a year at most, and more highly refined products, which produce more long lasting results, are invariably too expensive for large projects, such as stabilization of several hundred acres of soil in a single job.